The creator is responding to a tweet they read three days prior that claimed "tea bagging" in video games is a form of sexual assault and can be traumatic. Tea bagging is a gaming term where a player's character crouches up and down over their opponent's corpse to taunt them. The creator strongly disagrees, stating that tea bagging is not a sexual act and is simply a form of taunting, similar to other emotes or sprays in games. They argue that if people believe tea bagging is equivalent to real-world sexual assault, they should also believe that shooting and killing in games is equivalent to real-world murder, which is not the case. The creator acknowledges that in virtual reality (VR) spaces, there can be instances of sexual harassment, but this is a different context than a simple tea bagging in a game like Valorant. They criticize the original tweet for trying to make an issue out of something that is not a real problem and for trivializing actual sexual assault.
Here are the key facts from the text:
1. The author was going to bed but stayed up thinking about a tweet they read three days ago.
2. The tweet argued that "tea bagging" in video games is sexual assault and traumatizing.
3. The author disagrees with this argument, stating that tea bagging is just a form of taunting.
4. Tea bagging is a common practice in some video games, such as Halo, where players crouch up and down on top of their defeated opponents.
5. The author believes that tea bagging is not sexual in nature and is not equivalent to real-world sexual assault.
6. The author notes that some games, such as Killer Instinct, have banned tea bagging due to poor sportsmanship.
7. The author acknowledges that virtual reality (VR) games can be a different experience, and that some behaviors in VR can be considered sexual harassment.
8. The author believes that comparing tea bagging in video games to real-world sexual assault is "vile" and "petty".
9. A thread about the topic sparked a debate, which was picked up by some news outlets.
10. The author believes that the media representation of the debate was disingenuous, as it was not a genuine debate but rather a minority of people with "the worst takes of all time".